Journalism about nonprofit organizations and their impact

Dennis Whittle

David Bonbright traces his belief in the power of voice back to a peaceful revolution. Decades ago, while living and working in South Africa as a human rights lawyer, a grant-maker with the Ford Foundation and a founder of nonprofits, Bonbright was deeply moved by the way the anti-apartheid movement was accountable to its members …

I’m just back from a vacation in Tulum, Mexico. I found great places to eat using Trip Advisor (try El Tabano, above), and wrote several reviews once I got home. Trip Advisor’s a great service. So imagine, if you will, a nonprofit sector with its own Trip Advisor, a guide that would help donors, volunteers and …

Few institutions in the US are as undemocratic as endowed foundations. The executives in charge of foundations answer to, er, no one. They give money away, so people tend to laugh at their jokes, tell them they look well, nod in agreement at their banal remarks. What’s not to like? As for nonprofits, they pay …

Some nonprofits do great work, and others don’t. Wouldn’t be it be nice to know which is which? That’s the topic of a conversation I’ll be moderating a week from today, on Tuesday, September 29, at 6:30 pm., at Busboys and Poets at 1025 5th St (and K), in Washington. It’s sponsored by the DC chapter …

Asking questions and then listening–really listening–to the answers is a vital but underrated skill. That’s true in business. In nonprofits. And in life as well. The trouble is, soliciting, receiving and acting upon feedback is hard. In theory, we want to learn, grow and change. In practice, not so much. We want to be loved for …

The notion that small is beautiful crosses ideological lines. E.F. Schumacher’s 1973 classic, Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered, which was shaped by Buddhist thought and the environmental movement, helped brings us farmer’s markets, tiny houses and anti-globalization activism. Tea Party Republicans (and some progressives) embrace federalism, arguing that power should …